Friday, August 30, 2013

Picture: Christian G.E. Schiller with Olivier Bernard of Domaine de Chevalier in Washington DC. Olivier Bernard is also the President of the UGCB and #40 on the 2013 Decanter Wine Power List

When the British Wine Journal Decanter released the Decanter Wine Power List 2011 – the 50 most influential people in the wine world – I was very surprised (and pleased) to find myself - with my fellow bloggers around the world – on the list: the Amateur Wine Blogger made its first appearance at number 16. This year, the Amateur Wine Blogger is no longer listed.

The list reflects the two dominant trends of the international wine world: globalization and the rise of Asia.

Ten of the 50 listed luminaries have a strong Asian connection. 2 years ago, there were only 6 of them. New on the list this year are: Yang Wenhua (12), Paolo Pong (42), Winemaker Li Demei (44) und Judy Leissner ( 48), CEO of the Chinese winery Grace Vineyards. You can also add to them a number of names from the West with strong ties to the East, like John D Watkins (11), David Pedrol (27) and David Dearie (23).

Wu Fei, head of the wine and spirits division of the COFCO, China’s state-owned Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation, is the new #2 (up from #8 last year). COFCO makes wine (Great Wall brand), invests in wine properties (Chateau Viaud in Bordeaux) and is a key potential partner for anyone in the world who wants to sell bulk wine into the Chinese market.

The China connection also might explain Aubert de Villaine’s rise from #30 to #8. Aubert de Villaine is co-owner of Domaine de la Romanée Conti (DRC). 2013 has been seen by many as the year that Chinese investors and collectors lost interest in Bordeaux and turned their attention to Burgundy. So, no surprise that DRC, perhaps the most sought-after Burgundy wine, would surge in the ranking.

From a German perspective, I am surprised that Alexander Margaritoff does not show up on the list. He is the CEO of Hawesko, the largest wine trade company in Europe and the largest on-line wine retailer in the world.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

The world of Riesling returned to Seattle in Washington State. The attraction was the 4th Riesling Rendezvous, a gathering of Riesling producers and enthusiasts from around the world.

Riesling Rendezvous is sponsored by Chateau Ste. Michelle, the Washington State giant wine producer and Weingut Dr. Loosen, one of Germany’s top Riesling producers from the Mosel Valley. The famous Eroica Riesling from Washington State is a joint venture of Ste. Michelle and Dr. Loosen. Riesling Rendezvous is the largest international gathering of Riesling producers and enthusiasts in the world. It features three days of tasting, discussing and learning about Riesling.

The 4th Riesling Rendezvous in Seattle featured 3 major tastings: First, the walk-around tasting at Chateau Stee Michelle in Woodinville with about 70 Riesling producers from all around the world pouring 4 to 6 wines each. See: The 4th Riesling Rendezvous in Seattle: Impressions from the Grand Tasting at Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, Washington State, USA Second, the seated international blind tasting with 20 wines falling into the dry category. See: International Tasting at the 4th Riesling Rendezvous in Seattle, USA - Dry Riesling Third, the seated international blind tasting with 20 wines falling into the beyond dry category. The postings provides an account of the blind tasting of 20 beyond dry wines.

This posting is part of a series of a dozen or so postings on the 4th Riesling Rendezvous in Seattle. I have posted so far:

This posting is being published as part of the Weinrallye, a monthly blog event in Germany. Participating wine bloggers - mainly in Germany - are all releasing postings today under the heading "Raetsel im Wein/Wein im Raetsel - Mystery in a Wine/Wine in a Mystery". Weinrallye is the brainchild of Thomas Lippert, a winemaker and wine blogger based in Heidelberg, Germany. This month's wine rally is organized by Peter Zuehig (sammlerfreak).

Picture: Weinrallye

This posting provides an overview of one of the 2 major blind tastings at 4th Riesling Rendezvous in Seattle.Blind tasting means identifying a mystery wine. Well, we all knew that we had a Riesling in the glass, but our knowledge ended there. Was it a new World Wine or an Old World Wine that we had in the glass? Oregon, Finger Lakes, Australia or Austria, Mosel, Rheinhessen? It was surprising to see how lost and wrong the panelists and all the other tasters (including myself) often where.

The Panelists

On Tuesday, July 16, the day began with another fascinating blind tasting of 20 Rieslings, this time off-dry and sweet Rieslings from around the world, moderated by London-based wine journalist Tim Atkin, a Master of Wine.

Here is how the tasting went. The tasting was orchestrated by US Wine Journalist. For each wine, he would first ask one of 6 panel members to say something about the wine. In particular, the panel expert was expected to guess where the wine might come from. Fir some wines, other panel experts also provided their opinion. Then he might turn to the tasters and ask for a show of hands, if, mostly, the wine was new world or old world. Then, the identity of the wine was revelealed and the winemaker or owner was asked to provide some comments.

In general, it was a mazing how off the panel experts sometimes were in terms of their assessment. Also, the how of hands often revealed a stark division among the 300 tasters. Overall, the new world wines held up very well with the heavy weights from Germany and Austria.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The US is the largest wine market in the world. Americans consume more wine than any other country (311 million cases of wine in 2011) in the world. France, Italy and Germany came very close, with each market accounting for around 300 million cases of wine per year.

Whereas France and Italy have a high (and declining) per capita consumption, as does Germany, although a bit lower, the US consumes very little per capita (only a bit more than 10 liters), but there are a large number of American consumers. In addition, American wine consumption per capita is growing.

79-Jordan Harris is winemaker and general manager of Tarara Winery in Leesburg, Virginia. While many of Virginia’s vintners are concentrating their efforts on the sure sellers like Bordeaux-style blends and Chardonnay (which frankly don’t show well here) Harris champions varieties that are often overlooked. Pushing the boundaries of his various blends, Harris is blazing trails in the state with bottlings like his blends of Tannat, Petit Verdot and Pinotage; and a white wine mix of Viognier, Roussanne, and Petit Manseng.

75-Charles Smith. A decade ago, Smith, a California native, was managing a rock band in Copenhagen when he made a career shift: Smith taught himself how to make wine by creating tiny lots of Syrah for his own K brand. Now his wines are some of Washington’s most sought-after. And Smith’s The Magnificent Wine Company wines (House Wine Red and White) and “modernist” Charles Smith Wines (The Velvet Devil Merlot, Kung Fu Girl Riesling and more) are among the best values anywhere.

Picture: Christian G.E. Schiller and Charles Smith in Woodinville

74-Ian Brand

73-Ben Smith

72-Marco Capelli

71-Stephen Bernard is the winemaker for Keswick Vineyards in Virginia.

70-Maggie Harrison

69-Joe Davis

68-Wes Hagen

67-Jon McPhearson

66-Alan Phillips

65- Lee Lutes

64-Andrew Meggitt

63-Adam LaZarre

62-Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Roberts

61-Steve MacRostie

60-Andrew Quady

59-Jim Bernau

58-Kenneth Volk

57-Bob Betz

56-Steven Mirassou

55-Dan Petroski

54-Wendy Stuckey. Born and raised in Australia, Stuckey left the Barossa Valley to join Chateau Ste. Michelle as its white winemaker. Today her commitment to Riesling is as strong as ever, making eight iterations of American Riesling.

53-Christian Roguenant

52-Fred Frank manages Dr. Konstantin Frank in the Finger Lakes region in New York, and studied winemaking in Germany. As Konstantin's grandson, Fred Frank, has expanded the business tenfold, working closely with winemaker Peter Weis, and Dr. Frank wines are now distributed in 36 states and internationally.

48-Cameron Hughes is a wine négociant. He does not own a vineyard or a winery but outsources all the labor that goes into making a bottle of wine; growing the grapes, crushing and fermenting them.

47-Ehren Jordan

46-Tony Soter

45-Neil Collins of Tablas Creek Paso Robles legally imported Rhône grape varieties from France, propagating them in a nursery at the winery after they were released from quarantine. The availability of this new vine material helped raise the quality of Rhône grapes in the U.S., and wineries all over the country are growing the so-called Tablas Creek Vineyard Selections in their vineyards.

43-Gary Eberle has earned the title, the “grandfather of Paso Robles wine.”

42-Elias Fernandez

41-Daryl Groom

40-Lynne Penner

39-Richard Sanford

38-Celia Welch

37-Steve Matthiasson

36-Aaron Pott

35-John Williams

34-Mike Benziger leads one of the most prominent and one of the last in-tact families in the wine industry. Based in Sonoma, the 30-year old Benziger Family Winery is widely known for their pioneering exploration and practice of biodynamic, organic and sustainable agriculture and grape growing.

See also:Benziger Wines Served at the 2010 “Green” Annual White House Correspondents Dinner

33-Chris Camarda

32-Bob Cabral

31-Gary Farrell

30-Kris Curran

29-Rick Small

28-Mark Aubert

27-Stephane Derenoncourt is a self-taught winemaker who continues to spread his wings as a consultant, with projects in Italy, Spain, Chile, China, India, Turkey, Lebanon and Bordeaux. He consults for Francis Ford Coppola’s Rubicon in California and now makes a cool-climate, high-altitude Napa range of wines under his own name.

22-Jim Clenenden of Au Bon Climat in Santa Barbara has cultivated an international reputation for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Gris. Clenenden was on Robert Parker's short list of Best Wineries in the World, and he was selected by Oz Clark in as one of 50 worldwide creators of Modern Classic Wines.

21-Bob Levy

20-Kim McPhearson

19-Justin Smith

18-Paul Dolan

17-Joel Peterson

16-Sean Thackery

15-Greg LaFollette

14-Carol Shelton

13-Peter Mondavi, Jr. along with patriarch Peter Mondavi, Sr., heads up the flourishing Charles Krug Winery and CK Mondavi Family Vineyards. Amidst corporate buy-outs up and down the Napa Valley, Mondavi has been determined to keep Charles Krug in the family, and to preserve the 850 estate vineyards, farming them sustainably. Additionally he has helped preserve the historical legacy of wine in the Napa Valley by refurbishing the original buildings on the property, thus maintaining one of the oldest wineries in California, all the while maintaining an incredible level of quality.

11-Randall Grahm planned to make the first great American Pinot Noir. Instead he introduced American consumers wine other than Cabernet and Chardonnay. His Le Cigare Volant proved it was possible to craft and sell great Rhône wine blends from California before anyone really knew what they were. His marketing antics still defies and at times defines the pretentious approach, such as when he held a funeral for the Cork in 2002. Grahm, a longtime proponent of biodynamic viticulture, downsized his production in 2006 to focus on small estate wines.

See also:
Bumping into Randall Grahm in San Francisco, Owner of famed Bonny Doon Vineyard in Santa Cruz in California, USA

10-Mia Klein

9-Robert Foley

8-Heley Turley.

7-Gina Gallo: With over 24 wine brands, and over 70 millions cases of wine produced and tens of thousands of acres of grapes, E. & J. Gallo Winery is the world's largest family-owned winery and the largest exporter of California wine. Gina Gallo is winemaker, spokesperson and all around wine supporter.

6-Heidi Barrett

5-Paul Hobbs is owner and winemaker for Paul Hobbs Winery, CrossBarn Winery and Vina Cobos in Mendoza. Paul is a pioneer in this industry, from having a hand in the discovery of Malbec’s potential in Argentina, to venturing into regions such as Hungary, Armenia, Uruguay and Cahors.

Wine Tours

About Me

I live in the greater Washington DC (US) and Frankfurt am Main (Germany) areas and write about wine. I am a member of the FIJEV (International Federation of Wine and Spirits Journalists and Writers). Before starting to write about wine in 2009, I was for almost 30 years an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). I am currently in Washington DC.